Researchers from MIT and France’s Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM) have been studying the lateral orbitofronto-striatal pathway region at the front of the brain and how it’s related to obsessive behavior in mice. Using mouse models unable to produce the Sapap3 gene that is linked to obsessive compulsive disorder, the researchers used optogenetics, a method that combines genes coding for light sensitive proteins and fiber optics implanted into the brain, to see if they can influence behavior.

They were able to make the neurons in this pathway region of the brain light sensitive so they can stimulate signals going to the striatum, as would normally be the case in a healthy mouse. Their findings showed that the mice studied had a significant reduction in obsessive behavior.